Exposition of the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 12:9-14)

March 23, 2021

(Jesus ignores the religious leaders’ Sabbath rules)

Question to be answered in this study

1. Why is Matthew chapter 12 considered the turning point in the gospel of Matthew?
2. What brought about the turning point in Matthew’s gospel?
3. What were the two reasons for Israel rejecting the kingdom?
4. Do rules have exceptions?
5. What if Abraham out of fear or just not wanting to leave his home and his kin, refused to follow God?
6. What is the Biblical definition of faith?
7. What is the only way we will ever know God’s best plan for our lives?
8. What was the primary concern of the Pharisees? Was it that Jesus was not who He said He was or that his teaching was false? What was it?
9. What is the essential truth that we can learn from today’s study?

Introduction

Up until chapter 12, Jesus was offering Israel the kingdom, but they rejected it; therefore, at the end of chapter 12, Jesus withdraws the offer of His kingdom to the Jews and postpones His world kingdom until His second return. I have now been nearly 2,000 years to date, and we have no idea when the second coming of Jesus might be, although the Scripture teaches it is imminent or could happen at any moment.

The reason for the turning point in chapter 12 is the rejection of the kingdom. There were two reasons for the denial. First, as we saw in chapter 11, it was because of the hard hearts of the Jews and their unbelief. Second, as we saw in the previous study, it was because Jesus refused to acknowledge the rules of their Mishna, specifically the rules of the Sabbath. The Pharisee’s motive for using their rules and laws was to maintain their power and keep Israel accountable to them. Man has always sought power in this world at whatever cost. They have slain millions, lied, cheated, tortured, and brought misery on the people. The Pharisees were not unique; they only acted in their interest and desire for power over the people, still in force today, even in a free society like America.

Today we move ahead in our study of the Sabbath:

Matthew 12:9-14, “And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: 10And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. 11And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? 12How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. 13Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. 14Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.”

In the last study, we saw how Jesus used an example from the Old Testament concerning David and his men when they entered the temple and ate shewbread sanctified for temple use. Beyond any reasonable doubt, this example proved that the Pharisees’ Sabbath rules were absurd, but the Pharisees were not convinced.

It is probably the synagogue in Capernaum, Galilee, where the topic for todays’ study takes place. My wife and I visited there last year. Portions of the synagogue are still standing. The present ruins are over the original synagogue of New Testament times. On this particular event, Jesus is confronted by a man with a withered hand who the Pharisees had planted there to trap Jesus. Infirmity was a devastating handicap for those who had to work with their hands to earn a living; it often could require a person to resort to begging. Erroneously, the Jews sometimes considered deformities a judgment from God because of the sin of the individual or his parents. What made this event unlikely without the Pharisee’s intervention was, it would have been unlikely that this man could have secured a prominent place in the synagogue on this occasion. It was no secret in the Bible that the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus into violating their rules.

This is the second time the Pharisees have accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath in the gospel of Matthew. The first we talked about last time when Jesus and His disciples were walking through a cornfield plucking ears of corn to feed their hunger. Ironically, the Pharisees were probably breaking one of their own rules by walking more than 2,000 steps on the Sabbath, following Jesus around to try and catch Him breaking a Sabbath rule.

In today’s event, the Pharisees question Jesus concerning one of their Sabbath rules concerning healing on the Sabbath as to whether healing work was unlawful; this would not be the last time they would accuse Jesus of breaking this rule concerning the Sabbath. Their question was not intended to be sincere; they wanted to trap Jesus. Jesus ignored their Sabbath rules because they were not part of God’s Word; they were artificial. When they asked Jesus if it were lawful to heal on the Sabbath day, Jesus replied with a question as He often did. He used a typical everyday example: In verse 11, “… He said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? 12How much then is a man better than a sheep?” Strange enough, they would not allow a sheep to suffer, although they had no compassion at all for this man who needed desperately to be healed.

Many rules and laws have exceptions; this was especially true concerning the law of the Sabbath. The Bible teaches to have compassion for others if they need it, even on the Sabbath; this is what Jesus is teaching these Pharisees, but they were too caught up in their tradition to listen. They would show compassion on a sheep that fell in a pit or an ox that needed watering on the Sabbath. If it was the right thing to do to show mercy on an animal, how much more was it to have compassion on a human being. The Pharisees were more concerned about keeping the letter of their laws than they were meeting the needs of their people. Jesus put it this way in verse 12; he said, “…since showing compassion for an animal on the Sabbath was good, then showing compassion on a person was better.”

After this, in verse 13, Jesus told the man to stretch out his hand, and the man did and was restored. We have to give this man credit for his faith. He knew the Pharisees were setting him up, yet he believed in Jesus and believed He could heal him because he stretched out his hand when Jesus asked. After a lifetime of ridicule and being the object of cruel jokes, he deserved to be healed.

The life of a believer requires the faith to step out even when we are unable to see where we are being taken. God has His plan for our lives, and it is His very best plan. If we fail to have faith in His leadership but rather to follow our own will, He will allow it, but it will never be His best plan for our lives. The only way we will ever know what good things God has for us is when we, by faith, take up our cross and follow Him where ever He leads us.

Abraham willingly followed God’s leadership in Genesis 12:1, “Now the LORD had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:” What if Abraham out of fear or just not wanting to leave his home and his kin, refused to follow God? Abraham would have missed the many blessings God had in store for him, especially becoming the father of Israel’s nation, had he not been willing to follow God’s direction. Abraham would have to leave his established homeland to discover the land that would become his inheritance. It was no doubt scary not to know what you were up against and what unknown you may encounter when you arrive at your destination, but Abraham, out of faith, went anyway. His name is in entered in the hall of faith in the New Testament book of Hebrews, Hebrews 11:8 (KJV), “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.”

In Hebrews 11:1-4, we have the definition of faith: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained …” Although faith is intangible, it appears as accurate as if it were. Even though we can’t see it or touch it, we know it is accurate and that it alone provides all the evidence we need to know that when we follow God’s leading, all will be well with our soul. The only way we will ever know God’s best plan for our lives is when we, like Abraham, are willing to step out in faith even if we do not know what direction to start walking. If we are eager to follow, God will reveal the path.

Consider the faith of all those great men and women of God’s Word listed in Hebrews 11: “Able by faith became the progenitor of the righteous line from Adam. By faith, Enoch, who pleased God, was translated and did not see death appointed to man. By faith, when God warned Noah, he built a vast boat many miles from the sea, which saved him and his family from God’s coming judgment on the world. Abraham looked ahead and imagined a city with no foundation not built by man’s hands, and Sariah also, by faith, conceived in her old age and bore a son. As a result of her faith, a nation sprang forth that number with the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand by the sea shore innumerable.”

Even though they were unable to experience these things in their lifetime, they could see them afar. Isaac, son of Abraham and Sariah, bore Jacob, who became Known as Israel, the namesake of God’s chosen nation. Israel’s son Joseph, by faith, became the savior of Israel from the drought that encompassed the land. Moses’ parents, by faith, hid him not fearing the king’s commandment, and Moses became the man who led Israel from bondage. It is said of Moses that he endured suffering and affliction as seeing him who is invisible. When Israel crossed over into the promised land, they followed God’s instructions, and by faith, the walls of Jericho fell. By faith, Rahab, the harlot, survived the destruction of Jericho and became part of the family line leading up to Christ.

And even more examples of faith are found in Hebrews chapter 11: “Those who through subdued faith kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Furthermore, women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they have sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:). they wandered in deserts, and in the mountains, and dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”

God never promised us an easy life on earth; there will be times when we must proceed by faith alone, as did the great men of the Bible. Each day in the life of a believer, God is a present, leading and presenting new calls on each believer’s life. The calls vary from individual to individual, but each requires a measure of faith to respond and be willing to follow God’s leading through faith. Each person needs to be in tune with what God is saying to them about the direction they are to go. His callings cover many areas of our lives, from spending more time in His Word to witnessing to that friend or family member, supporting His church, or putting away a particular sin in your life, etc. Maybe you don’t think you have time in your schedule to follow God’s calling, whatever it may be. Better make time; it is the essential thing in your life.

As we go back to the narrative, Jesus has just won another battle over the Sabbath, but the battle won’t end here; it continues throughout the remainder of Jesus’ life, ultimately leading to the cross. We see in Matthew verse 14, Matthew says the Pharisees began conspiring against Jesus, seeking to destroy Him. In John 11:47 is a description of their planning: “Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. John 11:48 “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

Their concern was not that Jesus was not who He said He was or that His teachings were false but that the rise of Jesus’ claim to be king and his power might threaten the Roman Empire and put an end to their control over the Jewish people. Here is the way Paul described the problem of the Pharisees: Rom. 10:1-4: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. 2For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not by knowledge. 3For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own; they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Rom. 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Paul desired to see Israel repent and return to their faith in God, but he knew that could not happen as long as the self-righteousness of the Pharisees stood in the way. The majority of the people, even though their motive might have been to please God, we’re so entrenched in the rabbinical Judaism system, they could not accept the truth of Jesus even though some in faith did.

The bottom line and the essential truth to be learned from today’s study from what we have been discussing is that if you are like the Pharisees and their followers and are determined to follow God in the wrong way, even though sincere, you will receive no rewards and will miss God’s greatest blessing of all, heaven.